S. Korea's foreign exchange trading falls 5.3 pct in 2020
Source: Xinhua | 2021-01-29
South Korea's foreign exchange trading fell in single digits last year as demand weakened for foreign exchange derivatives amid a relative stability in the won/dollar exchange rate, central bank data showed Thursday.
The daily average foreign exchange transaction in the inter-bank market came in at 52.84 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, down 5.3 percent from the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The situation was attributed to lower demand for hedging currency risk. The won/dollar exchange rate sharply rose in the first quarter amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but it relatively stabilized during the remaining quarters of last year.
The daily average trading of foreign currencies on spot added 2.5 percent to 20.32 billion dollars, but the derivatives transaction contracted 9.5 percent to 32.52 billion dollars.
The foreign exchange trading by local banks reduced 5.0 percent to 24.77 billion dollars, and the figure for domestic branches of foreign banks retreated 5.5 percent to 28.07 billion dollars.
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